XFX GeForce 7950 GT 570M Extreme

XFX GeForce 7950 GT 570M Extreme

Core Clock: 570MHz
Memory Clock: 1460MHz
European Warranty: 2 years limited (parts and labour)
US Warranty: limited double lifetime warranty (details here)
Price: £229.38 including VAT - Dabs.com

The XFX GeForce 7950 GT 570M Extreme comes well-packed in a large box that has a large complement of bundled extras. The front of the box advertises HDCP support and RoHS compliancy and the fact that the card comes with a totally silent cooling solution. The software bundle includes a full-retail copy of Ghost Recon Advanced Warfighter and a driver/utility CD.

Along with the included software, there is are hard copies of the multi-language quick installation guide, user's manual and a guide to using the 7-pin HDTV-Out port on the back of the video card. There are two DVI-to-VGA converters, an S-Video cable, a six pin PCI-Express power adapter and a YPbPr Component breakout box to round off the bundle.

Looking at the card, the completely silent cooling solution dominates the design. The main body of the cooler that covers both GPU and memory is black anodised aluminium and comes with a funky green XFX logo. The portion of the heatsink in contact with the GPU core is copper and the two heatpipes are sandwiched in between the aluminium heatsink and the copper insert. These route out at the top of the card, making it about 27mm taller than the reference GeForce 7950 GT.

The fins attached to the end of the heatpipes are also made from aluminium. There are a total of 37 fins, 28 of which are 80mm long while the remainder are only 55mm long as to not block access to the screw mounts for removing the GPU heatsink. The upper portion of the fins wrap around the bracket that runs along the top edge of the board.

The PCB is matte black and the design is rounded off with a bolt gun I/O bracket. The two dual-link DVI ports have been given the flourescent green treatment, while the HDTV-out mini-din connector is still black. On the whole, we'd have to say this is one of the sleekest-looking video cards we've ever looked at - simply put, she's a beauty!

Frequency-wise, XFX has managed to clock this completely fanless card to 570/1460MHz - that's an increase of 3.6% on the core and a 4.3% memory clock enhancement. While we're on the subject of the card being fanless, you're going to need to have good airflow inside your system to keep this card adequately cool.

On our test bed, we witnessed temperatures approaching 110 degrees Celsius during heavy gaming sessions without any air flow. With some airflow from an 800 RPM Noctua NF-S12 fan directed in a similar fashion to what you'd get from a front intake, our load temperatures comfortably dropped below the 100 degree mark.

Warranty: XFX's video cards have differing warranties depending on the region you buy your video card in. In the UK and mainland Europe, XFX operates a standard limited two year warranty service covering the repair or replacement of the product - this is similar to what most other board partners offer in their own products. In the US, XFX operates a limited double lifetime warranty.